Dan Duquette on Chris Davis, the potential to lose a draft pick and more

NASHVILLE - We had another chance today to record a video interview with Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette. We spent some time on the Chris Davis talks and also asked if the Orioles would consider it difficult to relinquish the 14th draft pick to sign a free agent.

Did any free agent or trade talks get advanced today? Are the Orioles close to anything "We made some good progress on some free agent players that we've been talking to. Hopefully we will be able to bring some of those deals to closure. I don't know that we are going to be able to do it while we're here. But hopefully we will be able to do some by the end of the week and some next week."

What can you say about the discussions with Chris Davis "We've been working on that for a long time and we just haven't gotten there yet. At some point, we are going to get to a limit. We are going to have to find out if Chris is going to be with us. If not, then we are going to have to make alternate plans and staff the team.

"But I can tell you this: We are going to have a good ballclub again next year and we are going to be able to add some left-handed hitters to our lineup to balance our lineup.

"The issue here is really how much of your resources can you put toward one player when you know that all these other things are required to have a good and entertaining team that is affordable to the fans, right? You need the fans to come out and support you and we want to keep it as affordable family entertainment. We want to have good defense, which our manager stresses all the time. We need a good pitching staff, a strong bullpen, setup hitters and power hitters. So it's not just one player that makes the ballclub. It's a lot of good players and we are going to have a lot of good players on our club this season."

If Davis says no, there is more payroll flexibility. Can you do more with an answer of no? "The thing to keep in mind is the way the system is structured, if players leave your ballclub, you do get back draft picks. And, in this case, we would have additional money to reinvest in the team and recruit other players to help our team. There are other things you can do. Obviously, we have prioritized what we want to do and we've made it very clear what our intention is and we'll see if that works."

Have the Orioles put a deadline on the Boras/Davis camp to make a decision? "I think the Orioles, we have our own timeline for decisions that we have to make to field a competitive team. The ownership understands what has to be done and when it has to be done. And the framework to put together a strong, competitive team and we're going to continue to do that."

The O's have the 14th pick in the June draft. Would you consider giving up that pick under the right circumstances if you signed a player that turned down a qualifying offer? "You know, the 14th pick I think is a really good, solid pick to have in the draft. You are at the area where you have a chance to get a good player to help your team. Not just for one year, but for several years. Given that pick and how attractive the players are in that area, you have to think long and hard about relinquishing that pick. At 14, you are right at that area where you have to give strong consideration to keeping that pick rather than signing a compensation free agent. But there are other free agents out there that are very attractive where you wouldn't have to sacrifice a draft pick. We are taking a look at some of those options."

Check back here later to watch the Duquette interview when the video is posted.